Well, I was actually discussing this recently with my professor. If all the mass of an item were converted into energy the energy production would follow e=mc^2. So a slinky, which I have and weighed is about 10 grams.

With the proper conversion .01 kg * (3.00*10^8 m/s)^2 = 9.00 * 10^12 Joules = slightly more than 2 kilotons of tnt = to approximately 1/7 the destructive force of the nuclear bomb that struck hiroshima.

Mindscrambler wrote:Well, I was actually discussing this recently with my professor. If all the mass of an item were converted into energy the energy production would follow e=mc^2. So a slinky, which I have and weighed is about 10 grams.

With the proper conversion .01 kg * (3.00*10^8 m/s)^2 = 9.00 * 10^12 Joules = slightly more than 2 kilotons of tnt = to approximately 1/7 the destructive force of the nuclear bomb that struck hiroshima.

Mindscrambler wrote:Well, I was actually discussing this recently with my professor. If all the mass of an item were converted into energy the energy production would follow e=mc^2. So a slinky, which I have and weighed is about 10 grams.

With the proper conversion .01 kg * (3.00*10^8 m/s)^2 = 9.00 * 10^12 Joules = slightly more than 2 kilotons of tnt = to approximately 1/7 the destructive force of the nuclear bomb that struck hiroshima.

Hmm, where did all that energy go?

Maybe a window was open?

I can agree to that. Pressure can escape through any opening large enough to allow the material to pass through. Oh, I just remembered something.

Mindscrambler wrote:Well, I was actually discussing this recently with my professor. If all the mass of an item were converted into energy the energy production would follow e=mc^2. So a slinky, which I have and weighed is about 10 grams.

With the proper conversion .01 kg * (3.00*10^8 m/s)^2 = 9.00 * 10^12 Joules = slightly more than 2 kilotons of tnt = to approximately 1/7 the destructive force of the nuclear bomb that struck Hiroshima.

Hmm, where did all that energy go?

Crikey... OK, so a metal slinky converted completely into the yield equivalent of an W82 atomic device fired by 155mm artillery, yikes! That really puts Einstein's brainstorm into perspective.

Oh, and we know that Leonard is by all means nearly indestructible... Right?

Oh, and one can safely assume that the slinky was stopped early into its buildup to doomsday, so the initial yield can be significantly less than the optimal result.

Meaning, it fizzled.

Just don't let the girls do that with anything heavier than a sparrow's feather, huh?

Mindscrambler wrote:Well, I was actually discussing this recently with my professor. If all the mass of an item were converted into energy the energy production would follow e=mc^2. So a slinky, which I have and weighed is about 10 grams.

With the proper conversion .01 kg * (3.00*10^8 m/s)^2 = 9.00 * 10^12 Joules = slightly more than 2 kilotons of tnt = to approximately 1/7 the destructive force of the nuclear bomb that struck hiroshima.

Hmm, where did all that energy go?

Maybe a window was open?

I can agree to that. Pressure can escape through any opening large enough to allow the material to pass through. Oh, I just remembered something.

Cartoon physics beats real physics any day of the week.

Well, first of all, nobody said the mass of the Slanky would be converted to energy, just that the accumulated energy would make it explode. The Slanky does appear to have vaporized, though, and that would be traumatic enough.

That's kind of the theory I was going with. The energy buildup would make the Slanky explode, not convert its mass to more energy. Also, because it would seem to be taking place on the molecular, or even atomic, level, the explosion would likely be little more than the disassociation of the Slanky at that level thus eliminating shrapnel as a potential threat in lieu of a sudden energetic gaseous expansion. Also, having a 'thoom' instead of a 'bang' would suggest that the disassociation took place as a chain event rather than instantaneously. Sort of the equivalent of if you broke open a fire cracker, dumping the powder into a pile and lighting it instead of just lighting it intact (fizz instead of bang).

YAY! Leonard saved the day by getting the energy in the Slinky to discharge before it reached critical mass (the e=mc^2 calamity described by Mindscrambler). Thankfully, most of the released energy seems to have been used up by the flash-vaporisation of the Slinky. Of course, that still means that Leonard has got hit by what looks like was several firecrackers worth of energy (just from EM and other waste products from the neutrinoisation). He will also likely have a disabling phobia for springs for the rest of his life.

Still, that is considerably better than the whole town being reduced to a smouldering crater when the Slinky reached cricital mass. By the look on Scarlet's face, I'm pretty sure that she thought that 'Thoom' would be the last thing she ever heard.

BenRG wrote: By the look on Scarlet's face, I'm pretty sure that she thought that 'Thoom' would be the last thing she ever heard.

Nah. Even without the quad-synch brainification any of the squirrely lasses are more than capable of not being scared by such noises with the knowledge that, if the worst _had_ happened, the blast wave would have arrived with the sound-wave, quite a long time (by explosive physics standards for "long time") after the initial flash had vaporized them.

That face is her realisation that the only likely individual to have nommed on the slanky (nomming being easily deduced by the interplay of frequencies in the "Thoom") pre-critical mass is a small and much loved cupcake-battle antagonist very much treasured and doted upon by the scary lady beside her currently wielding a nuclear restraint device...

See now, that's exactly the fear/expectation I see in Amber's face there. (Or is that Jade? I suck at facial recognition at the best of times...

Hey, JJ! 4 Squirels, 2 ears each, perfect opportunity for unmistakable binary based identification for those like myself blighted with an inability to recognise any individual characteristics more subtle than species :-P

See now, that's exactly the fear/expectation I see in Amber's face there. (Or is that Jade? I suck at facial recognition at the best of times...

Hey, JJ! 4 Squirels, 2 ears each, perfect opportunity for unmistakable binary based identification for those like myself blighted with an inability to recognise any individual characteristics more subtle than species :-P

Not all of them, that'd be kinda pointless... And one of them gets to keep both, so, y'know, it's not all bad. Admittedly one of them's going to end up earless, but I'm sure they can do something with their hair and that quad-telepathy-brain-share dealy they've got going on means it's not all that big a deal surely? On average it's only one each, and it's not like they listen all that much anyway.

Waitaminute now... I'm not the one here who just _detonated_ Leonard... Why am I suddenly on trial?